Creating a Trickster - AT? Sorc? Bard? Multiclass? Homebrew subclass?

[Greywander]

For some reason I've been thinking lately how I would go about creating a Trickster character. An Arcane Trickster rogue came to mind immediately, but I feel like the AT is missing a lot of things that make for an archetypal Trickster. Expertise, likely for Deception and Sleight of Hand, is on point, as is Mage Hand Legerdemain. But the rogue chasis doesn't really seem suited to a Trickster.

Of course, Tricksters come in a lot of flavors (AT rogue, bard, druid, wizard, sorcerer, and warlock would all be viable), but what I've got in mind is more of a social and magical manipulator and is less combat-oriented. I'm also not sure whether a Trickster's casting stat should be INT or CHA. The way I see it, Tricksters would have a high INT (they're very creative with their pranks, and are often motivated to stir up mischief out of boredom), low WIS (they often prank and insult powerful entities, and their schemes sometimes backfire on them), and high CHA (they are master manipulators, but they also tend to be unusually friendly and likable).

Some other features I think would be useful for a Trickster character would be Metamagic, specifically Subtle, Wild Shape, Improved Minor Illusion, and several warlock invocations (Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions, specifically).

Multiclassing to get all of these would be a pain, and for most of these I'm only interested in one or two features from that class. I'm thinking it might make sense to combine some of these features into a sorcerer or bard subclass. I don't think it would be necessary to create an entirely new class, but if it came to that then a full caster (probably using the bard list) would fill out half of that class's features.

So how would you do it?

[Cerefel]

It seems like bard would give you at least most of what you're looking for, and a dip into warlock could round things out significantly even if you don't quite end up with everything you're looking for.

If you're looking for something more specific, I'd suggest archfey-chainlock 3/bard x to pick up skills, lots of enchantments/illusions, mask of many faces, a charm effect that doesn't require v/s components (though it only lasts a round), and an invisible flying familiar that can be used as a mage hand and scouting tool.

It isn't perfect, but I'd argue that it ticks most of the boxes you want

[MrStabby]

You are asking for a lot... on the other hand all of it together is not a totally unreasonable package. This points towards homebrew to my mind.

I think there is a choice to make around the two stats to use. I think Dex, Int and Cha. There is no reason to not have the stats be Int and Cha if that is fitting - but you miss the slight of hand being on stat.



My personal view is a dex/cha half caster - lots of skills. So far like a bard but with worse casting. Maybe make up for the lack of high level spells with something like arcane recovery - so there is still a high frequency even if it is lower level. Maybe some combat use of skills - feint based on deception, disarming based on slight of hand... that kind of thing. Make a custom spell list with the things you want on it.

Probably better in the homebrew forum if you want to go down this path - if you do, drop me a message as would be happy to go into more detail there.

[Mercurias]

It’s difficult to put all of that into one character without multiclassing.

Personally I would just run a Chain Warlock with either the Great Old One Patron. For invocations, I would choose Mask of Many Faces, Misty Visions, Master of Myriad Forms, Sculptor of Flesh, Shroud of Shadows, and Voice of the Chain Master for your trickery, and pick up both the Agonizing Blast and Eldritch Spear invocations for your damage. You might dip a level into Rogue or Bard for Expertise, or possibly dip two levels of Sorcerer for Subtle Spell, but I wouldn’t do any more than that. For your cantrips, pick Eldritch Blast, Friends, Minor Illusion, and Mage Hand.

You would get from this setup:
-Infinite Disguise Self
-Infinite Alter Self
-Infinite Silent Image
-Infinite Invisibility
-Polymorph Once/Day
-The ability to telepathically talk to people within 30 feet (they can’t telepathically reply back)
-Additional Spells that expand your ability to control people on and off the battlefield, as well as scry and Detect Thoughts.
-A trickster’s minion (Pick an Imp) whose senses you can see and hear through anywhere as long as you’re on the same plane. You can also SPEAK through it, and it can shapeshift to a few animal forms as well as turn invisible. Oh and also it can share it’s darkvision and magic resistance if it’s within a mile of you.

This is a crazy list that takes time to acquire, but if you want to play a sort of supernatural trickster with emphasis on the supernatural, it’s tough to beat.

Lore or Glamour Bard would also do very well for a lot of what you want. What they lack in ridiculously powerful Invocations they make up for with a huge skill list and greater overall spell variety.

[Brundle]

Don't forget about the lvl 9 arcane trickster giving disadvantage on save's this is rather big deal, and if you combo with divination wizard you can charm fear hold or whatever you want to just about anything in the game

this wont cover the social aspects very well other then the spells like gaes and charms, rog makes up for it a little bit with so many skill's